Treat yourself to a chocoholic holiday splurge

Wednesday

Nov 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMNov 25, 2009 at 7:56 AM

The enticing scent of chocolate wafted across the Holiday Inn Expo Center midway during the King’s Daughters Holiday Festival on Nov. 15 as the Columbia Daily Tribune held its 2009 Chocoholic Recipe Contest.

Rebekah Ellington of Columbia won the $75 first-place check in the Pudding, Pie & Cheesecake category of the Tribune’s 2009 Chocoholic Recipe Contest with a recipe called Mexican Pots de Creme (right). The judges then selected her recipe as the contest’s grand-prize winner, earning Ellington another $150 plus a bottle of fine Merlot.

Other first-place winners included Patricia Schnitzer, Stacey Thompson and Joanne Holste, all of Columbia. Schnitzer took first place in the Cookies, Brownies & Bars category. Thompson won in the Cakes & Breads category, and Holste topped the Candy category.

First-place winners each won $75. Second-place winners won $50 and third-place winners earned $25. All winners received a Tribune gift bag.

Tribune food writers narrowed the original field of about 60 entries down to a dozen, three finalists in each of the four categories. Eleven of the 12 finalists prepared their recipes for the final judging at the Expo Center.

First place: Mexican Chocolate Pots de Creme

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons coffee liquor

6 ounces high-quality, finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

6 egg yolks

2 tablespoons super-fine sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In saucepan over medium-low heat, bring first five ingredients to a gentle simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add coffee liqueur. Put chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Add hot cream over it. Let stand about a minute then stir till smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks and sugar. Slowly drizzle yolk mix into chocolate mix, whisking constantly. Pour mix through fine-mesh sieve into bowl. Let cool for 15 minutes. In a small pot, bring to simmer 4 cups of water. Arrange a dish towel in the bottom of a 9-inch x 13-inch baking pan. Set ramekins on top of towel. Fill each ramekin with custard. Pour simmering water halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake until the edges are set, about 25 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Transfer ramekins to cooling rack to cool for about 30 minutes at room temperature. Then chill in fridge until set, about 3 hours. To serve, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.